Thursday, April 22, 2010

Recycled Wind Chimes

Happy Earth Day! To continue with our pledge to only make recycled, reusable, and eco-friendly crafts this month, we wanted to share our recycled wind chime!Maggie's husband has been after us to make a wind chime for awhile now, but so many of the recycled ones looked a little too recycled. We were looking for something that was not only recycled but looked and sounded pretty, too. And as usual, we found inspiration in food. Having made a vat of pasta sauce, Maggie had a large collection of cans left over. We decided that their tops and bottoms would make the perfect wind chimes!

What you need:

the top and bottom from 1 large can

the tops and bottoms from 6 small cans

permanent marker

hammer

nail

monofilament

glue gun

First, wash and dry your tops and bottoms. Then hammer a single hole near the tops of each small circle.

Next, make 12 evenly spaced marks near the outer edge of one of the large circles, leaving a little space between them and the edge. These will be where you hang each of your finished chimes. Make four more marks on the big lid (in the space between the 12 marks and the edge) , one on the top, bottom, and each side. These will be used to hang your wind chime. On the second lid, make the same four marks you just made on the first circle. They must line up with the four marks on the first large circle! This second large circle will be used to cover the holes and knots that you'll have on the first circle (this will make more sense later, we promise). Once all your marks are made, hammer holes into all of them.At this point , you can paint your circles any color you want. We chose white!Now it's time to assemble your wind chime. Using your monofilament, tie a knot onto one of the small circles, and then attach it with another knot to the large circle with the 12 holes. Continue this until all your circles are attached. We made each circle hang a little lower than the one before it, creating a spiral.Now fire up your glue gun! Add some hot glue to the top of the large circle and place your second large circle (the one with only 4 holes on it), being careful to line them up. Then thread more monofilament those four sets of holes to create a hanger for your wind chimes.Now just hang up your chimes and enjoy the sweet sound of recycling!Happy Earth Day! And stay tuned to see what we did with the other parts of the tin cans!

Wow that is such a fab idea. I've just come in from my garden where I planted 60 sunflower seeds today for earth day and I'm defo going to make one of these as I've also been sorting all my recycling today. I love it :o) Thanks so much for sharing M x

This is awesome. please link it up to the CAN categorically Crafting show at my site. I was saving can lids thinking I would make something out of them someday and didn't know what to do and now I do. I would love to have this idea saved on my blog!http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/2010/04/can-categorically-crafting-show.html

So happy you all like this! A few people have asked how it sounds, and we are happy to report that it sounds LOVELY! The cans we used were small (they used to hold tomato paste), so I think that helped keep the sound from being too "clangy".

Thanks for inspiring me this week on my Tot Tuesdays link up party! I love seeing what you come up with every week. What a beautiful presentation and a great way to recycle/ celebrate Earth day.I hope you’ll stop by again this week.

I’m hosting Yummy Mummy Week May 9th-16th and I’ve got a great group of ladies sharing their tips on fitness, fashion, parenting and relationships as well as a giveaway everyday. And I’d love for you to share a story and some photos of how your life and body have changed since becoming a mom. The Link up party starts on Mother’s Day and runs the whole week.

About Us

We are Rebecca, Maggie, & Jill - busy women just like you who run after our active kids, try to clean the house once in a while, and manage to throw dinner together (even if it's just a bag of frozen chicken nuggets). But when we get the chance, we enjoy a good project. Something that entertains the kids, saves us a little money, is good for the earth, and even makes us feel pretty. And we want to share these ideas with you!
Enjoy!